What is allowed at the polling station, what makes a vote invalid? As with every election, about the are also circulating online.
On the February 23 election day, false claims about the voting process itself were particularly prevalent, including accusations of vote rigging because ballot boxes were not fitted with a lock to the incorrect advice that voters needed to sign their ballot papers.
DW’s team looked at some of the viral claims.
Do signatures make ballots invalid?
Claim: In a post viewed 150,000 times on X, voters for (AfD) were asked to sign their ballot papers: “Against election manipulation. Sign your ballot paper” is written in large letters on a graphic that was distributed by a satirical account. Other users also shared the graphic. The image resembles AfD election campaign advertisements. Other similar images are also circulating on other networks such as Reddit.
Fact check: False.
Signed ballot papers are invalid in . Any form of handwritten addition, such as a signature or a comment, invalidates the ballot paper, even if the additonal actually intended to confirm the vote. The website of the Federal Returning Officer, which organizes and monitors Germany’s Bundestag elections, makes it clear: “If a reference to the voter (for example by stating their name) is written on the ballot paper, it will be invalid because it jeopardizes the secrecy of the ballot.” This is regulated in section 39 of the Federal Elections Act: “Votes are invalid if the ballot paper contains an addition or reservation.” Any calls to sign ballot papers are therefore requests to invalidate a vote.
What is also striking about the post on X is that it calls for people to vote on February 24 — which is one day after the actual federal election on February 23.
Can you use pencil to vote in Germany?
Claim: Some users on social media claim that you are not allowed to use a pencil to cast your vote in Germany as the vote could be manipulated, i.e., erased. This user says, “Don’t forget your ballpoint pen. Don’t make a cross if there is a pencil in the polling booth and insist on a ballpoint pen.” Or this one shared a claim, “Just voted. Pencil in the polling booth? I brought my own ballpoint pen.” Or here the user even seems to suggest that polling booths have pencils on purpose, “They really think of everything. … There has to be a pen in the polling booth and no pencil …”
There seems to be confusion in general also whether it is allowed to use an erasable pencil at all, as can be seen in the comment section of this TikTok video.
Fact check: False.
The Federal Election Code in Section 50does not specify the type of pen or pencil that should be used to fill in the ballot paper. It merely states that a pen should be available in the polling booth.
The Federal Returning Officer specifies this: Ballpoint pens, felt-tip pens, ink pens and pencils all count as writing pens — the latter do not have to be document-proof either. If you still prefer to bring your own pen, you should make sure that no ink seeps through the paper when folding the ballot paper, as otherwise it may no longer be possible to clearly see where the cross was placed, and the ballot might then be declared invalid.
The individual election committees are made up of members from a wide range of parties, and the counting of the votes cast is public, so manipulation by third parties is ruled out.
However, one thing that does violate the Federal Election Code in these posts is the photos of marked ballot papers attached to the claims.
“No photographs or films may be taken in the polling booth,” states Section 56 of the Federal Election Code, which regulates the voting process. It is also not permitted to show others who you have voted for on your ballot.
Both violate the secrecy of the ballot.
In Germany, casting a vote in secret is not only permitted but actually mandatory.
The electoral board, i.e. the person who monitors the correct conduct of the election in a polling station, is even obliged to reject voters who do not conceal their vote during the election process.
This includes — also in the case of postal voting — photographing or showing completed ballot papers. If, for example, a ballot paper is folded in the polling station in such a way that the crosses are visible, it may not be cast in the ballot box. However, if such a ballot paper does end up in the ballot box, it can no longer be invalidated.
Do ballot boxes have to be locked in Germany?
Claim: Users on social media are claiming that the election result in Germany is being manipulated because some ballot boxes don’t have locks on them. This user on X wrote, “If you want to know why the same people are always in power in Germany. Ballot box in Constituency 84, district 10, polling station 324. According to the election board, the Federal Returning Officer does not consider it necessary to seal the ballot boxes.” Similar claims were made by other users, like here, “This would allow them to be opened and all ballot papers could be replaced by others, as the number of voters cast is recorded.”
Fact check: False.
According to the German Federal Election Code section 51, “The ballot box must be provided with a lid. … It must be closeable.” However, it does not specify that it needs to be locked. The Federal Returning Officer also published similar statements on a website on disinformation about the German parliamentary elections.
Similar allegations circulated at the last German federal election, held in 2021.
Back then, a Federal Returning Officer spokesperson told AFP news agency: “How it is closed is not specified. There does not have to be a lock on it or a seal.”
The Federal Returning Officer also in 2021 that the ballot boxes must be closed; how is not legally stipulated.
However, the ballot papers cannot simply be exchanged, as Section 54 of the Federal Electoral Regulations stipulates that anyone may remain in the polling station from the opening of the polling station until the “determination and establishment of the election result”, i.e. until the end of the count.
Every German citizen therefore has the right to act as an election observer to ensure there is no manipulation.
Anna Bakovich, Georg Braunschweig, Karla Sophie Kretz, Andreas Wißkirchen and Claudia Dehn contributed to this fact check.
Edited by: Uta Steinwehr
This article is a collaborative project between ARD-faktenfinder, BR24 #Faktenfuchs and .
The post Fact check: False claims on German election debunked appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
